History Main / SecondaryCharacterTitle

* ''Theatre/ByeByeBirdie'': The title refers to rock star [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Conrad]] [[Music/ElvisPresley Birdie]], who plays a major role, but Conrad's manager, Albert, and his secretary are the main characters.

* ''Theatre/{{Iolanthe}}'' gives the titular character less to act and sing about than other major characters, despite her importance in the plot. The protagonist is her son, Strephon.

* In ''Theatre/TheMikado'', the title character doesn't make his entrance until well into the second act. The protagonist is his only son, Nanki-Poo.

* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'' arguably became this after [[SpotlightStealingSquad Perry and Doofenshmirtz]] started getting more focus than the two titular stepbrothers in later seasons.

* ''Film/MeetTheParents'': The Focker children in ''Little Fockers'' have neither many lines nor much screentime.

* ''Film/TheRockyHorrorPictureShow''. Extra points for sounding like a WordSaladTitle, rather than anything to do with the characters at all, to people who aren't very familiar with the plot.

** Although not the case in the original book (which had a different ProtagonistTitle), in the 1971 film ''Film/WillyWonkaAndTheChocolateFactory'', the titular Wonka, though an important character, is still just the owner of the titular factory to which the main protagonist Charlie wins a trip.
** Ironically, the book's second adaptation ''Film/CharlieAndTheChocolateFactory'' is also an example because it kept the book's original title but changed the focus so that Wonka now ''is'' the main character.
* Amy is only mentioned off-screen in ''Film/ChasingAmy'' as the ex-girlfriend of another secondary character.

* ''MyDadTheBountyHunter'': The title refers to Terry, the father of the protagonists Sean and Lisa.

* ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'': The player character and protagonist is Link (though [[HelloInsertNameHere you can choose his name in most games]]).

* The live-action ''Film/{{Transformers}}'' movies. The fact that the Transformers are secondary characters in the movies named after them is a frequent subject of mockery, due to the fact that they were the main characters in other incarnations of the franchise.

* Chicory is deuteragonist of ''VideoGame/ChicoryAColorfulTale''. She is the artist who motivates [[PlayerCharacter Pizza's]] journey and the story is just as much about her as it is about Pizza.

* The protagonist of ''Literature/{{Aimee}}'' is not Aimee but her best friend who is accused of killing her. In fact, the protagonist isn't named until the end of the book. [[spoiler:Her name is Zoe.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBrothers'' zigzags this. Hank and Dean Venture are distinctly not the main characters of the series, but how prominent they are ranges from season to season. In the first three seasons, Rusty Venture, Brock Samson, and the Monarch all tend to have stronger claims to protagonist status and have much more involved arcs, with the boys generally coming across as TheDividual, [[TheLoad rarely affecting the plot]], and being around more for comedy than drama. Even an in-universe summary declared that Rusty was the real main character. In Season 4, however, they get significantly more CharacterFocus and go through DivergentCharacterEvolution, developing significant story arcs of their own while some prior characters flit in and OutOfFocus (particularly Brock) once their arcs were finished. By Season 7 or so, the large ensemble cast means that the show doesn't particularly have a single protagonist, but Hank and Dean are definitely good candidates. It's further played with by the season 2 opening on Rusty and his newly discovered twin brother Jonas Jr. though Jonas Jr. was never more than secondary character throughout the show. Revelations in Season 7 suggest that the "true" Venture Brothers are [[spoiler:Rusty and his half-brother Malcom aka The Monarch]].

SubTrope of CharacterTitle. Compare VillainBasedFranchise, AntagonistTitle, SupportingProtagonist, and {{Deuteragonist}}. May overlap with TrivialTitle if the secondary character is especially unimportant to the story, or with ArtifactTitle if the character [[OutOfFocus used to be]] the protagonist.

* This is parodied in ''Series/ThatMitchellAndWebbLook'' with a sketch about TheFilmOfTheBook of the abovementioned ''Film/{{Rebecca}}'', where [[ExecutiveMeddling the studio insists]] that if the film is going to be called ''Rebecca'', it has to be ''about'' Rebecca. As a result, she spends the whole movie listening to people talk about what it'll be like when she's dead and her husband's second wife moves in.

* The titular character of ''Film/{{Rebecca}}'' was [[PosthumousCharacter already dead before the movie even began]]; however, the disproportionate influence her memory still has over the other characters is central to the story.

* You'd be surprised how little ''VideoGame/{{Anna}}'' actually features in her own game. In fact, it's debatable if she appears ''at all'' (because TrueArtIsIncomprehensible).

** ''VideoGame/SuperMetroid'' averted the Antagonist Title from the original game in a very clever, Pun-Based Title way. In fact, the fact that it's a case of this trope and not just an example of the usual "Super X" snowclone common to USefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem games is somewhat of a spoiler:the reason the titular character is the Super Metroid doesn't become apparent until the final segment of the game.

-> ''"Michael Corleone is ''Film/TheGodfather''’s protagonist. The Don gets shot about 40 minutes into the film’s three-hour running time, and while he survives and has a few scenes thereafter, virtually everything memorable about [[Creator/MarlonBrando Brando’s]] performance occurs within the first couple of reels."''
-->-- '''Mike D’Angelo''', [[https://thedissolve.com/features/performance-review/301-in-1972-the-oscar-went-to-the-right-actor-in-the-w/ "In 1972, the Oscar Went to the Right Actor in the Wrong Category"]]

* The unfinished epic ''Literature/{{Titurel}}'' by medieval poet Wolfram von Eschenbach -a prequel to his romance epic ''Literature/Parzival''- was named by scholars after the first name mentioned in the surviving text. Titurel does not actually appear in the story, he is merely one of the protagonist's ancestors.

* The unfinished epic ''Titurel'' by medieval poet Wolfram von Eschenbach was named by scholars after the first name mentioned in the surviving text. Titurel does not actually appear in the story, he is merely one of the protagonist's ancestors.

* Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse: ''Film/BirdsOfPrey'' was more of a ComicBook/HarleyQuinn movie with the rest of the Birds being minor characters.